A Child's Story
by nise-nami
Summary: Squall never had any use for friends. So why should this spiky-haired blond change that?
1. Chapter 1

Squall never was a social child. He never had been. So why would this little spiky blond change that?

Squall sat outside on the swings, reading a book about sword-play. Suddenly, he felt himself being pushed forward. He nearly fell out of the swing. Turning around angrily, he yelled, "Yuffie!" What Squall saw, however, was not who he had been expecting. A small blond child sheepishly looked up at him from under his long lashes. Definitely not Yuffie. Squall did a double take and hoped off the swing, book in hand. He looked into the most startling pair of eyes he had ever seen. They were the color of the sea and becoming just as watery, too.

"Humph. I don't know who you are, but don't push me again."

The blond looked up at him, tears in his eyes from the rough rebuttal. All he could do was softly nod in response and quietly whisper his explanation.

"I'm sorry. She told me you liked to be pushed on the swings…" The blond looked over at a young girl hanging upside down from the monkey bars, laughing. Then without warning, the small blond sucked in a big breath, tears falling freely now, and ran in the opposite direction of Squall.

Squall stared after the kid for a moment, then started in on Yuffie.

"Yuffie! Where do you get off telling people that it's alright for them to push me on the swings? You know I don't like that. Don't ever do that again." Squall fixed her with the best death-glare a small child could offer. Yuffie, who had been hanging upside down from the monkey bars, squeaked with the intensity of the glare shooting from the other child's grey eyes. She knew that Squall's death-glare was a serious thing and she shouldn't bring her spunky personality into the path of it. Getting down off of the monkey bars, Yuffie quickly nodded and left for home.

Squall sighed and hung his head. Sometimes that girl could be SO annoying. He would be glad when he was adopted. He would finally be able to get out of this cramped little house that sheltered too many children. Not to say that Ms. Tifa wasn't nice, it was just that he was tired of other children picking on him because he read books. Like that Seifer kid. The cocky little blond kid had so much bad karma coming for him that Squall wanted to be there when it all happened to him. Because it was bound to happen all at once. Squall and Seifer had been caught many times, fighting out back of the house at any given time of the day. And even though Squall was a bibliophile, he could hold his own in a fight.

Sighing once again, Squall headed back to the house, hoping that he'd be able to find some peace and quiet so he could read his book. As he walked, he thought about the small blond boy he had made cry, earlier. It had only happened a few times, but it was still a surprising thing for Squall to see. The first time it had happened, he was maybe five years old. A small black haired girl had cornered him in the house's sparse library.

"Do you want to be friends?"

"Why would I want to have friends? They've never helped me out before."

"But, I'll be there for you, Squall."

"No."

"But Squall…"

"I said: No."

And that was where she had burst into tears. To this day, Squall could not see why friends were all that important. As a small child, his "friends" had done nothing to help him, and had dumped him at this orphanage as soon as they got the chance. Because of his "friends" he would never see his real parents again.

Maybe that blond kid had just wanted to be friends, too. But Squall would have told him the exact same thing he had told the girl: No. Friends never lived up to their definition.

Squall stormed into the house, troubled by past memories. He hardly noticed the smell of dinner coming from the dainty kitchen.

"Squall, honey, dinner is ready," Ms. Tifa called after him.

"Don't want any." Squall trooped upstairs to his room that he shared with an annoying blond kid named Zell. Zell had a strange marking across his face and was constantly reminding people that it was a birthmark, not a defect.

Settling down onto his bed, Squall quietly took out a small notebook and pen. After writing the date he wrote:

_It's been another long, fairly uneventful day. It started just _

_like any other day: getting up, washing, getting breakfast, a _

_book and searching desperately for some quiet. However, with _

_Yuffie around, that's not likely to happen. Not too long and I'll_

_ be turning another year older. I know Ms. Tifa is going to start _

_asking soon what I want for my birthday. I've grown up a bit _

_from last year, and have come to realize that "to be adopted _

_and get away from here" is not the best answer to her question. _

_This year, I believe I'll simply ask for another book. Master Yen _

_Sid has another one coming out just in time and it looks interesting. _

_I'm sure Ms. Tifa will look at me strangely at first, wondering why _

_a child so small would possibly want to read a book as complicated _

_as one written by the famous Master Yen Sid. What can I say? I was _

_just born with smarts, I guess. I must have been born with my own as_

_ well as Seifer's. I did well today and didn't get into any more fights_

_with him. It won't be too long though, before I sock him a good one_

_(again) for whatever it will be that he does to deserve it. Honestly,_

_everything I've hit him with, he's deserved in some fashion or another._

_ Today, I was out reading at the park just up the street from Ms. Tifa's. _

_Minding my own business, reading a book, sitting on the swing. No big_

_ deal, right? It was just fine until a small blond boy came up and pushed _

_me. Now that I think about it, I might have been a bit harsh with him; he_

_ started crying as soon as I told him to not ever push me again. This kid did,_

_ however, happen to have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. They were _

_just the perfect combination of sky and sea. I do feel bad for making him cry. _

_I hope I can see him again…to apologize. Dinner must be over; I can hear Zell _

_climbing back up the stairs._

Squall quietly put his diary back into its hiding place. He got teased enough about reading; he didn't need to be teased for keeping a diary "like a _girl,_" the words taking the tone Seifer would use when discussing something that disgusted him. Which, come to think of it, was almost everything that wasn't his own image.

Zell came into the room and immediately started to chatter.

"Dinner tonight was amazing! Guess what it was, Squall! Guess!"

"Hm…that's a tough one, seeing how excited you are. Could it possibly be hotdogs?" Squall droned in a bored tone.

"Wow! You're good at this game! Wanna play again?" Zell bounced excitedly up and down on the bed.

"Sure, why not?"

"There's some one here. For you, actually. Wanna guess who it is?" The bedsprings on Zell's bed were groaning in protest to the active boy atop them.

Squall thought about getting his hopes up. Thought that maybe a family was finally here to adopt him and take him away. Thought that maybe hope had finally come and he would find his parents. Thought that maybe he would be able to live in a large house with more books than he could see at one time. Thought that…well, he wouldn't get his hopes up. Irritated by the squeaking of the bedsprings, Squall let himself come back to Zell's game.

"I can't think of who it could be. Why don't you tell me, Zell?"

Zell practically shot across the room at Squall in his excitement. He managed, somehow, to stop himself just before he collided with Squall.

"It's a family, Squall. A real live family that wants to adopt you! I guess they saw you earlier and immediately knew that they wanted you as a son! Isn't it great? But it's still sad. We won't be roommates anymore." Zell visibly deflated and slinked back to his bed with the sudden realization that Squall wouldn't be his roommate at the small house anymore.

"When do they want to see me?"

"As soon as dinner is over, so probably now would be a good time. I had fun being friends, Squall."

The word shocked Squall and froze him on his journey to the door. There was that word again. Hadn't it haunted him enough for one day? Squall sighed and kept moving toward the door. He would figure it out later. He had a new family to meet.

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yeah. so my first fanfic. let me know what you liked and what you didn't. thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

Squall never was a social child. He never had been. So why should this spiky little blond chage that?

thanks to PlayfulSlyph and omiko for reviewing. you both have my appreciation. so yeah, chapter 2. sorry if it's too short. I tried to make it longer, but the end of Squall's journal entry seemed like a good place to end it to me (plus it's finals week). so yeah. enjoy!

* * *

Squall worked his way down the stairs slowly, not wanting to believe that his dream had actually come true. By the time he got to the bottom, he could hear voices coming from a room off to the side. Squall knew this room well; it was the adoption room. This was where people went to sign papers. The room where children were not allowed in until it was their time to be adopted. And Squall was about to enter yet again, hoping that this family wouldn't turn him down just because he wasn't as active as the other children. The last however many families had all said the same thing: "He reads? Does he play at all? No? Then maybe not him…"

Standing in front of the door, Squall took one last deep breath, hoping that this family would be different, that they would like a child who read. Squall knocked on the door and in short order heard a muffled, "Ah, that must be him now. Come on in, Squall."

He opened the door and saw a man and a woman sitting quietly in front of Ms. Tifa's desk. As soon as he walked in, however, the woman's eyes widened in pleased surprise. She immediately beckoned to Squall and he moved forward slowly. When he got close enough, the woman pulled him close to her in a warm embrace.

"We'll take him," was all she said.

Startled, Squall stood still but finally put his little arms around the woman. He finally felt like he might actually have a real family who loved him. The woman dragged Squall onto her lap. The man merely looked over at him and smiled a gentle smile.

"Mr. Fair? I just need you to sign this, and then you can go home."

"Oh, right. There you go."

The man, Mr. Fair, quickly signed the papers Ms. Tifa handed to him. The woman, Mrs. Fair, presumably, lead Squall out of the room.

"Go and get your stuff, dear. Do you need any help?"

Squall shook his head. A few minutes later, Squall descended the staircase after having said goodbye to Zell, the only one at the home that he actually spoke to on any sort of regular basis. Sad to see him leave, Zell had drawn Squall a picture of a hot dog, his name clumsily scrawled in the corner, with the hope that Squall would never forget Zell. "Seifer will pick on me a lot more, now, that you're going. But I'll learn to stick up for myself. Really, Squall, I will! And I'll come find you later, when we're big, and show you my moves!"

Squall patted his pocket where he had stuck the picture and headed out to the car with his new parents. That was it; he finally had real parents.

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His new parents asked him questions all the way home.

"What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?"

"What's your favorite movie?"

"What games do you like to play?"

"Read any good books lately?"

"Do you have any friends from back at the orphanage?"

The barrage of questions seemed endless. Squall, however, thoroughly enjoyed answering their questions. Until they got to that last one. "Friends." Once again, that word came back to taunt him; it was his own personal plague. For whatever reason, Squall thought of that blond kid that had pushed him on the swing. There was something intriguing about that boy's eyes. They seemed the sort to value knowledge, not just action. He almost felt the need to protect him, though he couldn't explain it to himself. Squall had gotten quiet while he thought about that strange boy from the park and his new parents started to worry. After finally hearing his name being called, Squall apologized and replied in the negative to the friend question.

Shortly after, they arrived home, and Aerith, Squall's new mother, showed him upstairs to his room. It was simple; there was nothing decedent in it. Which was just fine, in Squall's opinion. As he looked into his room, Squall saw a simple bed pushed up against the far wall, under the windows. The opposite wall had a desk for him to do school work. Now that he lived further away, he would be going to a new school. Aerith told him that they would go register the next day. Excited to finally have a home, a place he belonged, Squall set his bag down and walked over to the window, feeling ecstatic, but not daring show it; that had always gotten him picked on by the resident bully – Seifer.

"Do you like it? It's not too plain is it? We weren't exactly sure what type of boy you would be, so we decided to leave the decorating up to you."

Squall turned around to look at her.

"It's great…Mom." The word sounded foreign to him. Almost like a made up word of something that existed in fiction, but not reality.

Aerith gave Squall another hug, letting him know that they were glad that he was there. She left, informing him that dinner would be at five. She left, softly closing the door behind her. She left, but she did not leave. Not like his _real_ mother did. Aerith would stay there. Zack too. He had a family now.

Smiling softly, Squall took his small notebook out, sat on his new bed, and began to write.

_The first day of my new life. Today was the day that I've been waiting for. Waiting for, for a long time. Today was the day I was finally adopted. I have a family now. I'll be going to a new school now. I'll be able to get some quiet when I read books now._

_So…what now?_

_I'm not really sure what to do next; I've never had a family before. I'll probably never see any of the kids from the orphanage again. Though, in some cases, that's not a bad thing. I will miss Zell, though, I think._

_He was the closest thing to a…friend…I've ever gotten._

_That word. It's been plaguing me since I met that boy._

_The one with the interesting eyes. The eyes that looked like they wanted knowledge. Not to mention friendship._

_But I'd never see that kid again, so no use worrying about it. Tomorrow, Aerith and I are going to go register at the new school. I wonder how big the library is… Will they have comfy chairs and couches to sit on? What will the new school be like? I'm so excited. Not that anyone could ever guess, though. That's something Seifer's taught me to hide. Well, I hear... Mom… calling me for dinner. It smells good. But I wonder…What will tomorrow hold?_

* * *

thanks for reading. sorry if Squall seemed a bit prolific and older in his writing. I wanted to try and cover everything. please review the story, let me know what you liked, what you didn't like. what worked, what didn't work. thanks! 

I promise that there will be more Cloud later. But I havent' decided if I'm going to make it into a yaoi type story or not. gomenasai.


	3. Chapter 3

Hiya. long time no see. so, I'm thinking this is going to be the last chapter in this story. I'm really sorry about the ending, I wanted it to be cute, but I'm not sure it came out that way... all characters are probably very OOC and all characters are definitely not mine. sigh well, I hope you all have enjoyed it thus far and I hope you all will enjoy this too.

and as a side note, in my family when one child has a birthday, all the other children get a gift. so seeing as how today in my birthday, this is my gift to all of you! enjoy!

* * *

Squall woke up and stretched his limbs as he yawned. He looked around his new room with a feeling of belonging. He could hear sounds of food being made in the kitchen just down the stairs. Yawning again, Squall climbed out of his bed and looked out the window. The lawn was nice and trim and green. There was a large oak tree on the far side of the yard that looked like a perfect place to read in. Squall decided that since this was his new life, he would go by a new name: Leon. He liked the sound of that. It didn't make him sound like a weather forecast. After getting dressed, Squall – now Leon – headed downstairs to see what his new mom was cooking up for breakfast. 

"Good morning, dear. Would you like pancakes for breakfast?" Aerith was in front of the stove putting the last of the pancake batter into the hot pan.

Leon listened to the batter sizzle for a moment.

"Yes, please, mom." That word was coming out better now. It didn't get stuck anymore like it used to.

Aerith gleefully put a large helping of pancakes in front of Leon.

"There you go, Squall dear."

"Actually, mom, would you call me Leon? I'm starting a new life here with you and Dad and I think a new name is in order."

Taken back a bit by her new son's decision, she just nodded and produced a weak "of course."

Leon ate his pancakes gratefully and as soon as he was done, brought up the subject of registering at school. Again a bit surprised by her son, Aerith told him they could go as soon as he was ready. Leon stood up, put his dishes in the dishwasher, and declared himself ready to go.

Half an hour later, they pulled up in front of the school. Leon looked at it. It was big. A big school _had_ to mean a big library. They got out of the car and Aerith led Leon into the main office.

"Hello, I'm here to enroll my son in this school. Where do I need to go?"

"Oh hello dear! Well, I can give you the paperwork right now and you can fill it out here. If you'd like," the plump secretary said, now talking to Leon, "I could give you a tour of the building. We could go see the music room, the playground, the library…"

Only half paying attention to what she was saying and half paying attention to the strange watermarks on the ceiling, Leon jerked his head around when she mentioned the library.

"I would very much like to see your library, please." If Ms. Tifa had taught him nothing else, it was manners.

Leon waved a short goodbye to his mom and was taken on a grand tour of the large school. Leon could tell that the carpeted hallways were wide, but they seemed a lot closer due to all of the student artwork and awards of all types that lined every hallway. The secretary led Leon around and showed him a few of the classes. Students were lined up facing a chalk board that the teacher would write their lesson down on. Some classrooms had students sitting down at individual desks, while others were paired up two to a table. Leon found it all very interesting, but he still had not come to what he most wanted to see: the library. But not wanting to sound rude, he quietly endured the secretary's honey-filled voice as she toted him around the school.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she took Leon down what seemed to be a little-used hallway towards a large set of doors. She opened the doors and Leon gasped at what he saw. The library was ENORMOUS! It had a staircase that led up to another floor in the library. Each set of bookshelves had a ladder that rolled for easy access to either end of the shelf. Every few bookshelves, there was a computer terminal to help find books, though everything in the library looked old from neglect. Leon took a tentative step into the library; he wasn't sure it was safe due to the lack of people present. He turned around to ask the secretary if it was alright. The secretary gave him a small nod in answer to his inquisitive look, a small smile on her face. Leon nearly gave out a big 'whoop' of enthusiasm, but opted instead to start looking for the collection of Master Yen Sid's books. He didn't get very far until he saw something he had been hoping would exist in this huge, abandoned library: comfy chairs. Just as he was heading towards them, he heard his name being called. Reluctantly, Leon went back towards the entrance and saw his mom waiting for him.

"You've been properly enrolled, and can start school tomorrow!" She was practically jumping up and down in excitement. Leon just had to smile at her.

"Sounds great, Mom."

Aerith babbled all the way out to the car about how much he would enjoy this new school and how many new friends he would make. And again, that word! Would it never go away?

* * *

Six-thirty the next morning, Leon's alarm clock went off with an annoying _BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP_ until he reached over and hit it – hard. He heard something crack and sincerely hoped that he hadn't broken his new alarm clock. Today was his first day of school, so Leon picked out something nice to wear. He decided it would be best not to wear his signature look of black leather pants and jacket on the first day. So he opted for jeans and a white tee shirt. After pulling on his black boots, Leon grabbed his backpack; he made sure everything he would need was in it the night before. He went down to the table where Aerith had prepared for him some French toast with maple syrup for breakfast. After eating, she took him to school, on the brink of tears the entire way. 

Not being able to stand it any longer – Aerith had started to slow the car down to a crawl – Leon asked her what the matter was.

A tearful Aerith brokenly replied, "Well…it's sniff your first sniff day and I'm just so proud of you."

Aerith parked the car, and Leon gave her an uncharacteristic hug.

"It'll be alright, Mom. And thank you. I'll see you later." And grabbing his backpack from the back seat, he walked into the school.

Had it really been this big yesterday? Leon gulped. How was he going to find his way around now? Leon stood in the middle of the hallway, not sure which way to go, and trying to find the courage to go into the office to ask for help. The students all ebbed past him as if he were a rock in a torrent of waves. Suddenly, a small boy appeared beside him.

"Um…are you lost?"

Leon looked down and was immediately shocked that the boy talking to him was the very same boy he had made burst into tears just the other day. Completely dumbfounded that he was now going to the same school as the boy he thought he would never see again, he just stared at him.

"Um…Hi. I'm Cloud. I'll show you around here!" And with that, Cloud took Leon's hand and dragged him to his classroom. Leon tried to pay attention as Cloud wound them through the maze of hallways. But soon he lost track. Was it the third left and then the second right? Or was it the third left and then the third right? Leon was afraid that he'd have to leave breadcrumbs so he could find he was back at the end of the day. Finally, the blond announced their arrival.

"Here we are! Hey, it looks like we have the same class. Come on in and I'll introduce you to the teacher." Cloud once again took Leon by the arm and led him through the desks to get to the teacher.

"Mrs. Tilmitt? This is our class's new student: Squall Leonheart."

Mrs. Tilmitt turned around, her hair flipping out wildly. She looked absolutely enthused at the prospect of another student in her class, Leon noted.

"Oh yes! I'm so excited that you're here, Squall."

"It's Leon, actually."

"Oh, alright. Well, Leon. How about you sit here?" She led him over to a desk and he put his belongings into the little cubby beneath the desk top. It was then that he noticed that the desk was actually a table. Then he noticed that Cloud was occupying the space on the other side of the table. Leon sat down next to Cloud, trying to decide how to handle apologizing to the blond. Apologizing was not something Leon did very often.

"Um…Cloud, right? Well, I…ah…that is to say…" Leon stumbled around with words and faltered as Cloud turned to look him straight in the eyes._Those eyes_, Leon thought, _his eyes look like they crave knowledge. Maybe I can invite him to the library as an apology! He might not even know it exists yet!_ With a plan in mind, Leon started again.

"I'm really sorry I yelled at you and made you cry, the other day. I was wondering if you wanted to come explore the school's library with me later, as a way to make up for being mean to you." Leon tried really hard not to sound too desperate to make amends with this spiky blond.

"I didn't know that this school had a library! Would you take me there, please? I love reading so much!" Cloud kept talking as Leon relaxed in his seat, glad his plan had worked, and worked well it did. Leon actually found himself happy that Cloud was happy. That was a first.

Leon promised to take Cloud to the library the next day.

* * *

_Wow. First day of school. It was pretty awesome. Yesterday, I got to see the GINORMOUS library. And best of all, it had the comfy chairs! I think that I'm really going to like it at this school. Even though it's huge, it still feels like it could become another home, well, at least the library. I did some looking yesterday, and they have the complete collection of Master Yen Sid's works. I will have to get started reading them soon. I met that boy today; the one I made cry before. I somehow managed to muster up an apology for him. And somehow I wound up promising him that I'd take him to the library tomorrow. He seemed so happy to find out the school had a library, so I guess he didn't know about it already. And strangely, seeing him – Cloud – happy, made me feel happy, too. That's never happened before, so I'm not really sure what it means yet. But maybe…_

* * *

Leon met Cloud out front of the school today so Cloud could show him how to get to class, again. Leon finally thought he got the order down this time: third left, _fourth_ right…or was it the fifth? Looked like he still needed his breadcrumbs. Lunch time came and Leon ate with Cloud, who appeared to have no one that he regularly talked to or ate with. After school, Leon took Cloud to the library – without making any wrong turns. 

"How is it that you can't find our classroom without help, but you can find the way to the library with no trouble?"

Leon shrugged, "It's a gift."

Leon pushed the doors of the library open and watched with pleasure the look of surprise and glee that came over Cloud's face.

"It's so big! And look at all the books!" Cloud could hardly contain his excitement. "Oh thank you so much for bringing me here, Leon. I love it. This is the best place ever."

Leon was suddenly feeling very sheepish as a question that he wasn't quite sure where it came from boiled up to the surface.

"Um…Cloud?"

The blond looked over his shoulder at Leon, then seeing the light blush creeping up Leon's face, turned completely around and came over to him. "Yeah?"

"Cloud, do you still want to be my friend?"

"…of course, Leon, of course I do. Now, let's go get some books and pull up some comfy chairs."

* * *

again, sorry if the ending was bad. but please leave me a message telling me what you think! 


	4. Apologizes

I want to apologize to all my readers…all four or so of you. When I updated the last chapter, I didn't save the change that the story is now complete. So yeah. It's complete now. But if you liked my writing, I'm starting a RikuxSora fic and should have the first chapter up hopefully sooner than later. So keep an eye out!

My apologizes,

Nisenami

p.s. I don't own KH or anything else mentioned in this fic...just the idea


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